Heritage

Christchurch - a chronology

1849

European population about 1000, mostly on Banks Peninsula.
March
Marine surveys of the coast, Estuary and harbour by HMS "Acheron".
April 20
Captain Thomas (in a letter to Sir George Grey) reveals that he has chosen the present site of Christchurch for the new settlement - in spite of the fact that both the Nelson and Otago colonists had rejected it in 1841 and 1844 respectively.
June 30
Canterbury’s first "industrial action" - Māori road workers in Evans Pass (constructing a road across the Port Hills) go on strike as a reaction to verbal abuse and dismissals.
June 30
New Zealand Company buys the remaining French interests at Akaroa from the Nanto-Bordelaise Company.
August 12
Surveyor Edward Jollie arrives to join Thomas.
November 13
Royal Charter granted for the incorporation of the Canterbury Association.
December 12
New Zealand Company agrees to reserve two and a half million acres as a site for the Canterbury settlement.
December
Major Alfred Hornbrook’s grog shop (dignified by the name "Mitre Hotel") operating in Lyttelton. (This was Canterbury’s first pub, and possibly the first commercial enterprise in the province.)

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